Ugh

I saw so many neat bugs today, including a monarch butterfly, a clouded sulphur butterfly, dragonflies, and lots of water bugs. Unfortunately, I wasn't in my yard when I saw them, so I can't put them in my blog. Even more unfortunate was what happened to me while I was doing my bug walk. I believe I have mentioned that I wear gardening clogs when I am out in my backyard. Gardening clogs, of course, are quite open. Open enough that a slug was able to slither into my shoe. And I squished it. With my foot. I realized something horrible had happened because I... errr... felt it... umm... pop. It was a horrifying moment. Also horrifying was the moment I pulled my foot out of my clog and saw that there was a squashed slug smushed into my shoe. It was an ignominious end to a mostly unsuccessful bug walk. I really do think now that morning bug walks are more successful than evening ones. At any rate, I had to go inside and change my socks, and that was that.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Acanalonia bivittatta planthopper. Yes, I looked that up. I didn't know it, and I am going to forget it within seconds. I much prefer common names - they are easier to remember.

Random Bugs:

 Minor bug drama...

 A pair of stinkbugs. I thought maybe male and female because of the size difference (the larger one being female, I would guess).

 A meeting... touching of antennae... I thought there might be a confrontation of some kind...

 The smaller one backed away...

 It ended up going the long way 'round to another spray of flowers on the plant.

 Bumblebee

 Katydid nymph. It seems a little late in the year for this, but here it is.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I found this one on my monopod, and had to transfer it to this leaf to get a picture.